Congressman Mike Coffman and his Republican ally, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, have a message for Democrat Andrew Romanoff: stand with us and sign a petition in support of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Rubio, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, penned a letter on Coffman’s behalf Wednesday, saying “to keep the fight going against Obamacare, we need leaders like Mike Coffman to keep standing up for us.”

Both Coffman and Romanoff, a former Colorado House speaker who ran for U.S. Senate in 2010, are locked in the hotly contested 6th Congressional District race, which in recent days has seen the pair trade jabs on social issues and now health care.

Coffman is among a House Republican caucus that has led the charge in voting more than 50 times to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law since it went into effect four years ago. In Colorado, a recent Quinnipiac poll found that 60 percent of voters statewide disapproved of the federal health care law. And since its roll out last fall, more than 335,000 Coloradans have received notices their insurance policies would be cancelled, though about 90 percent were offered renewal options.

Former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan and his wife Peggy are hosting a debate watching party tonight for Mitt Romney supporters. (Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post)

Some of the bold-face names in Colorado social circles — Greg Maffei, Larry Mizel and Doug Robinson — are helping host a Romney debate watching party tonight at the home of former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan.

Special guests are U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Marco Rubio and Colorado’s own Rich Beeson, Mitt Romney’s victory political director.

Romney and President Barack Obama square off tonight in their first debate, at the University of Denver, at 7 p.m.

The cost to attend tonight’s gala ranges range from $50,000 a couple to $2,500 a person, depending on what the person signs up for. The higher price range gets the Romney supporter into a breakfast with the presidential candidate Thursday morning at the home of Diane and Charlie Gallagher in Cherry Hills Village.

Mitt Romney continued his efforts to woo Hispanic voters today, announcing several prominent business people and Republican lawmakers – including the governors of Nevada and New Mexico – will lead his Hispanic Steering Committee.

The group, “Juntos con Romney” (Together with Romney) will advise the campaign on Hispanic initiatives and outreach.

The group will be led by Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce under President George W. Bush; Jose Fuentes, the former attorney general of Puerto Rico and Hector Barreto, a former administrator of the Small Business Administration. Honorary co-chairs include Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.Read more…

It surely sounds as if he’s angling for a VP spot on the GOP presidential ticket with this effort to woo an important voting bloc.

This is how Rubio describes the idea, according to the story:

Rubio’s proposal allows young people who came to the United States with their parents to have access to a non-immigrant visa that allows them to study, and after their studies are complete, allows them to work legally in the United States. Eventually, Rubio said, they gain the same status of other non-immigrant visa-holders and are eligible to apply for residency. Three to five years after they obtain a green card, they’re eligible for citizenship.

A New York Times editorial panned the idea, calling it “a Dream Act with out the Dream.”

The Rubio idea may be well and good, but it’s just an idea at this point, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Latino voters are going to want to see more than just a trial balloon before thinking about supporting the GOP ticket in significant numbers.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis and state Sen. Michael Johnston made Time magazine’s 40 under 40 list — a list of what the magazine calls the rising young stars of American politics.

Polis, the first openly-gay politician elected to Congress, says the most overlooked issues in this country are what he calls the nation’s human capital issues.

Polis, a Boulder Democrat, says: “Developing our nation’s human capital through improving education at home and replacing our broken immigration system with one that works to help import the best, brightest, and hardest working people from around the world to make our country stronger.

Johnston, a Denver Democrat, is described as a “former high school principal who advised Barack Obama on education policy.” He sees poor test scores and high dropout rights as a civil rights issue.”

Although Johnston and Polis, the only two Coloradans on the list, are Democrats, the list is full of Republicans as well, including Marco Rubio, a U.S. Senate candidate in Florida and Nikki Haley, gubernatorial candidate in South Carolina.

This interesting list, released today, is worth a few minutes to peruse.

Rubio has been endorsed by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and has received money and endorsement help from DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund. DeMint recently endorsed Norton’s opponent Ken Buck and his staff promises heavy fundraising and advertising buys for Buck in coming weeks.

Norton calls herself “a conservative, surrounding herself with conservatives, and will govern as a conservative,” said campaign spokeswoman Cinamon Watson.

“We are going to raise some money and talk to voters together because we’ve got a lot in common. We’re all conservatives and we’re all running to shake-up Washington, D.C.,” she said in a statement released Wednesday.

Senate candidates Michael Bennet, left, and Andrew Romanoff, right, squared off in a debate Feb. 16, 2010, on the Metro State University campus in downtown Denver. The event was filmed for later broadcast. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

It looks like the public’s not that interested in hearing Michael Bennet saying he agrees with Andrew Romanoff.

Cillizza, who writes the influential The Fix, said he was “entranced” by the Florida Senate debate between Republicans Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio on Fox.

“It had it all – a rhetorical brawl from start to finish with both men (but especially Crist) doing everything they could to squeeze every bit of opposition research about their opponents onto the television airwaves.

Given that, it left us hungry for more– Sunday talk show producers are you listening? – Senate debates just like this one.”

The Fix nominated five favorites (you can vote here). The Bennet-Romanoff showdown came in dead last.

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.